Chapter 162

Epilogue

“Urgh…”

Jaeha groaned, burrowing under the blanket to ignore the alarm. He’d only fallen asleep at dawn and was exhausted. Beside him, the person hugging him rustled, stretched a free arm out, and grabbed the phone. The alarm cut off.

A faint laugh sounded. The mattress dipped as he leaned in. He pecked light kisses across Jaeha’s cheek and spoke.

“Want to sleep more?”

Even half-asleep, Jaeha knew he had to get up. But after the past five years, he’d grown more indulgent, so he nodded and buried his face deep into the pillow.

“Ten more minutes…”

His voice came out parched and raspy, but the hand soothing the puffiness at his eyes felt cool and kind—as if even that hoarseness was dear.

“Okay. I’ll get breakfast ready, darling.”

Peck-peck-peck—morning kisses skimming across his face were so routine now they barely registered. Soon he rose from bed. Jaeha worked to shake off sleep with his face still pressed into the pillow.

In just a few minutes he yawned and reached back with his hand. Feeling around, he realized his partner had cleaned him up after he’d fallen asleep. His body felt fresh and dry—it was nice.

“Gotta get up…”

If he didn’t say it out loud, he’d end up oversleeping. He forced himself upright. The blanket, warm with body heat, brushed bare skin. He shuffled up, grabbed his stiff lower back, and tottered to the bathroom.

He washed his face and brushed his teeth, then looked at himself in the mirror.

A young man with good color and health stood there, hair a bird’s nest. His eyes were slightly puffy from crying through the night, but the neat gaze held both fatigue and peace. There was no trace of the anxious, cowed version of himself.

With a bit more flesh and muscle, he looked less sharp—more like a good-natured young man. He didn’t dislike his face the way he used to.

He finished brushing and dried his face with a towel. The cold water had chased off the sleepiness somewhat. He headed for the living room. A delicious smell wafted through the air.

“…Hyung, are you already done?”

Surprised by the neatly set table, he asked, and the other laughed.

“My cooking’s really leveled up, right?”

“Liar.”

“Yeah, okay, I lied. I bought it. Wanted to pretend I made it.”

Jaeha let out a helpless chuckle, sat at the table. Wearing an apron despite not cooking, his partner stepped up and kissed his forehead.

“Save my face.”

“You kiss mine till it wears out too.”

Jaeha pretended to push him away, but let the pressing insistence win and brushed a light kiss over his lips. It tickled pleasantly.

“Hyung, going to the Association today?”

“Mm. If I join around two, that’s fine, right?”

“Yeah.”

It had already been five years since “that gate.”

A lot had happened.

The world hadn’t changed. Jaeha still had no parents, was an unregistered illegal esper raised under the boss, and Aiden was someone he’d met at a bar—not at a university lecture.

Only—the boss was gone. The Association spent years searching for him, and Seo Tae-geon, and Kwon I-do—but they had vanished as if they’d evaporated.

Maybe, as Aiden said, they caused some change in a parallel world. Maybe the boss failed. Maybe the boss’s speculation itself was wrong. Jaeha didn’t know.

Only one thing was sure—he would never see the boss again. Jaeha chose to treat him as dead. Knowing he’d acted to the end without regret left a strange feeling—yet not grief or longing.

Sometimes he wondered what would have happened if he’d gone into the left gate. He even dreamed of that moment—when the boss asked him to grant a favor in exchange for information. But he never thought his choice had been wrong.

“Baby.”

“Yes.”

Instead of sitting across from him, his partner shyly settled in his lap. As the man who’d been seduced by that face last night and gone straight to bed, he should have been flustered—yet his heart fluttered anyway, and there was no helping it. He hesitated, then rested his head lightly on the other’s shoulder, and was pulled close.

“If you get guided by someone else, I’m running away.”

“I won’t.”

“If anything happens, call me.”

“Yes, hyung.”

He laughed at the childlike tone. In the end, Aiden hadn’t quit guiding as he’d declared in the gate—because Jaeha hadn’t quit being an esper.

He hadn’t chosen it freely, any more than opening the bar had been entirely voluntary, but he’d grown used to life as an esper. No—maybe he had a knack for it; at only thirty-one, he’d even been promoted recently.

“Our sexy team leader, you’re getting off early tonight, right?”

“We’ll see.”

He had, in fact, become team leader of Korea’s Team 3. It felt odd, but not like wearing something ill-fitting—no crippling self-consciousness. He even found the work… fun. He was thinking of his assigned team members when he glanced up; a pout perched like a duck bill made him smile.

“No one there is as pretty as you.”

“…Really?”

“Really.”

Corny lines, the kind hyper-affectionate couples use, had become familiar now. Jaeha kissed his first—and five-year—lover a few more times.

The light rubbing of lips deepened. Jaeha breathed out a troubled laugh, but seated on his lap, the other shamelessly turned his head to press for more.

“Haa…”

Jaeha didn’t stop the hand slipping slowly beneath his clothes. If they were quick, maybe it’d be fine? Sure, he’d need a taxi; maybe he’d be late; maybe they’d skip breakfast…

“Mm…”

His chest, tightly muscled, was still puffy from the night before. When fingertips brushed, teasingly light, he twitched. Grinning, the other took a greedy handful. It was mostly muscle, but the grip was rough enough to squeeze flesh between the fingers. It wasn’t pain—more ache and tickle. His chest was grabbed, but his lower belly tingled.

“Keep touching and it’s going to get bigger…”

“……”

“Is it up?”

He only parted his lips, face flushed, breath mingling at the short distance since they’d just been kissing. Pleased by the response, the other teased a bit more with a wicked smile; Jaeha jutted his lip and muttered:

“…You’re up too, hyung.”

Over the years, Jaeha’s personality had changed. Or rather, pieces of his original self—unknown even to him—kept popping out. It startled him sometimes, but it wasn’t hard to adapt.

“Wow, that banmal is hot.”

Aiden accepted every bit of him—embarrassingly fervent about it.

“Yeah, Jaeha. I’m hard. Help hyung out.”

“We have to go to work…”

“Just a little. You know I’m quick.”

He whispered languidly between kisses at the corner of Jaeha’s mouth. Jaeha knew no one would believe that lie, but as always, he gave in. Slowly, he set his hand over the waistband. Even that riled him; Aiden nibbled Jaeha’s lower lip, then sucked it in.

“Baby, talk more casually.”

“…Hyung, you perv.”

“Yeah, a perv and fast, but pretty—so forgive me. I even booked the dermatologist next week.”

“You don’t need that to be pretty…”

Jaeha let out a faint, helpless laugh. He tugged the waistband aside; the weighty hardness sprang free. Despite last night, there was no swelling. He suddenly remembered Aiden’s old nonsense about calluses from sex. Could a man’s cock get callused…? Catching himself thinking like Aiden, he caressed the shaft and closed his hand around it.

“Sh—”

After years together, this level of stimulation should have been nothing—but Aiden always responded like it was the first time. It made Jaeha embarrassed, like he’d barely done anything.

Just as the food, elaborately plated by a man in an apron pretending to have cooked it, cooled again—

Ring.

The phone rang. Jaeha stopped.

[Who the hell is that.]

…What time was it? Reality snapped back. He ignored Aiden’s irritated thought as usual and answered.

“Hello?”

—Team leader! A gate just popped—we need you urgently!

“…What rank?”

—Uh, looks like B-rank, but it’s assigned to our team. Can you come?

He rolled his eyes toward Aiden. Aiden’s eyes sparkled.

[Skip the gate. Let’s screw. All day. I can go all day.]

“I’ll be right there.”

Reading that thought, Jaeha calmly answered the teammate. Aiden drooped, but he didn’t fuss.

He hung up and rose slowly. He started for the bedroom to change, then paused, looked back at Aiden.

“…Coming too, hyung?”

Stuffing his erection hastily into his waistband, Aiden lifted his brows. Once again, love won out.

“We’re a pair.”

“I’ll be ready in five.”

Understanding immediately, Aiden dashed to his room. Jaeha smiled.

“It’s snowing out—wear a scarf!”

This peaceful routine still felt strange and new. Jaeha dressed, then wrapped a slightly timeworn teal scarf tight and craned his head to call out to him.

It was their sixth winter together.

A gate had popped and there was work to do—but just like then, the snow fell thick, it was peaceful, and Jaeha was happy.

Yes—happy.

Isn’t that enough?

The End

TL Note – hi besties! thanks for reading, crying, screaming, and sending unhinged dms about every cliffhanger. the support, bookmarks, kudos, and late‑night dms kept the caffeine flowing and the chapters coming fr, this project wouldn’t exist without this chaotic, lovely corner of the internet